


Mapping Your Skin

by Average_Trash



Series: Painmates [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Additional tags will be added, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Child Abuse, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Trauma, background rosemary - Freeform, blood mentions, cause damn these kids need em, definitely some decent makeouts lmao, depictions of violence, it does get better though I swear, might have a couple chapters focus on them, possibly smut, the real mvp power couple lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-07-11 16:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7060108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Average_Trash/pseuds/Average_Trash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say that soulmates can feel each others pain<br/>From Karkat's perspective<br/>A davekat fic featuring background rosemary based off of a soulmate promt from tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I promise this fic will be a lot happier than the prologue suggests. Obviously it will have elements of trauma, abuse and toxic thoughts throughout but I will tag chapters with warnings when appropriate at the start of each of them. This is my first attempt at writing outside of essays so any feedback would be awesome :D 
> 
> thanks for reading, ATxxx

They say that soulmates can feel each other’s pain as if it were their own

Karkat Vantas was sure of one thing, he was a mutant. There must be something wrong with his genetic makeup or his blood or something to warrant the, “well- attuned” link with his soulmate, as his sister would say. Whoever the unlucky fucker was they seemed to have some sort of death wish, and as a result Karkat had grown accustomed to carrying a small first aid kit with him wherever he went. Karkat, unlike his sister Kanaya, their mother, and everyone else on the shitty planet, had the amazing ability to not only feel his soulmate’s pain, but fully experience their injuries as well. 

The first time it happened Karkat was 5 years old. He and Kanaya had been left out in the garden to play; his sister was a few years older and so trusted to look after her younger brother whilst they made mud castles. Karkat vividly remembered that whilst he had been jabbing twigs into the top of his mud fortress (because all good fortresses were spiky) he had been overcome with a wave of tingling fear and nausea that disappeared so quickly he thought he’d imagined it, right before a lancing pain spread from his left shoulder down his bellybutton. While his memory after that grew fuzzy he knew from his sister’s recounting of the event that his mother had ran outside to find Karkat screaming in pain, the blood starting to soak into the front of his shirt; with Kanaya gently cradling his head in her lap trying to calm his hysterics. He had been rushed to his neighbor's and given 12 stitches, a lollipop, and a stern telling-off by the retired doctor for playing with bits of broken glass.

None of the later injuries were ever as bad as the first one, but Karkat and his sister had learned to take care of them themselves rather than tell their mother; who at this point was considering sending Karkat to a specialist. The siblings had ascertained that Karkat’s injuries were caused by the link to his soulmate; his description of the feelings prior to the attack matching with the rare occasion Kanaya felt a sharp tingling sensation on her arms or hands; but they had no idea if his shared injuries were because of genetics or whether he really was mutated. Like many children, Karkat and Kanaya had been adopted when they were just babies, both the products of marriages broken up by soul bonds.  
At first Kanaya and him would sit and make up stories about how his soulmate got such injuries, whilst out of their mother’s earshot. His soulmate was fighting pirates out in the Bermuda triangle, or had been kidnapped by the mafia, or were dueling evil wizards whilst attempting to rescue a princess; the two children exhausted their imaginations trying to figure out just how another 9 year old could get scratches and bruises that would sometimes cover Karkat’s torso completely. Karkat had quickly learned by the time he was 11 to sleep with his upper body wrapped in bandages, unless he wanted to wake up with little pools of blood spotting his mattress. He never really considered the fact that his injuries never extended to places not easily hidden, however as time went on he developed a mechanism to deal with the feelings of sadness that washed over him with every fresh bruise. He went outside less, and refused to part with the horrendously wonky jumper Kanaya had made as her first knitting project when she was 14. He ensconced himself in romance novels and films, letting the over-used tropes of trashy rom-coms distract him from the aching hole he felt in his chest.

By the time Karkat was 18 his body was littered with scars from events he hadn’t even participated in.


	2. the ol' splash n dash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPER HAS OFFICALLY BEEN EDITED YAYYY!!!!! 
> 
> Thank you so much for all the lovely comments and kudos you guys are amazing and so sweet. I hopefully should have another chapter up before the end of the week *sweats nervously*
> 
> Thank you again for reading, AT xxx

The image painted by popular media of moving to university is a highly embellished piece of crap, Karkat Vantas decided to himself, as he struggled to heave his overloaded suitcase off the bus he’d been stuck on for the past 3 hours. He had been expecting tearful farewells, introspective journeys, autumn leaves still warm with the last rays of summer sun; and even possibly the bustle of new arrivals causing him to be swept into the arms of some charismatic stranger. But no, instead he’d been woken up at 6am by his mother and informed that she’d been called into work for an emergency and he’d have to go it on his own. At first, after he’d woken his senses with a badly made cup of tea, Karkat was optimistic about this turn of events. In all his books the intrepid protagonist spent the long journey to their new life staring moodily out the car window without even a throwaway mention of their family, so of course he’d be fine. What these novels failed to depict was the numbing ache that would spread through karkat’s legs after sitting still for 2 hours, followed by the half hour sat next to the screaming toddler and topped off with the overpowering smell of urine wafting around the entire vehicle. He hadn’t even had any deep meaningful realisations while he watched the suburbs bleed into cities over and over again; just that he could really go a packet of cheesy puffs, and that deciding to wear the heavy turtleneck sweater Kanaya gave him as a good luck present was a terrible idea. He’d stewed away for the past hour, refusing to take it off despite the beads of sweat slowly making their way down his back. With one final tug, Karkat managed to detach his case’s wheel from the bus door, and promptly overbalanced, landing on the sidewalk with the offending item crushing all the air out of his lungs. 

Ah yes, Perfect.

After rolling about like an overweight turtle for what seemed like far too long, Karkat managed to right himself and his case just in time to watch the bus, full of amused faces, pull off into the distance. He tugged the collar of his jumper away from his neck in and surreptitiously wiped the sweat off his brow before looking around. It looked as though he’d been dropped off at the edge of campus, but the mass of brightly coloured balloons and steady throng of people showed him which direction to head in. Squaring his shoulders and giving another determined pull at his suitcase, Karkat Vantas stepped towards his new life as a confident and collected student.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dodging through the crowds of new students and confused parents with all the finesse of a drunken wildebeest, Karkat managed to acquire a campus map and an overly-enthusiastic greeting from the student body representative. Using his case as a battering ram to escape the meandering crowd, Karkat examined the goody bag the girl with pink bubbly hair had managed to coerce him into taking. Miniature bottles of shampoo and body wash tumbled out, followed by a handful of pamphlets advertising different clubs and social events. Shaking the bag violently to check that this was in fact the end of this deluge of crap, Karkat watched as something small and shiny rocketed out and landed a few meters in front of him on the grass. He wheeled over for a closer inspection, and after a few minutes of staring confusedly he realised that it was an unopened condom. He let out an embarrassed squeak and, dumping the bag and its contents on top to cover the packet up, scuttled away as fast as his over-laden case would allow him. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I swear to ever loving fuck if this shitty map takes me on one more wrong turn I’m going to hURL THIS SUITCASE INTO THE SUN!” Karkat seethed to himself, swerving violently and scattering several packs of families as he passed the same block of flats for what felt like the fifth time. He definitely remembered seeing that pair of boys goofing off on the grass before, though the pile of bags and cases beside them had dangerously increased in size. Karkat paused for a moment, deciding that maybe if he glared at the map enough it would reveal its secret to him. The laughter of the two idiots building the tower of crap was really irritating and karkat was seconds away from eating his map in a stress-induced rage when he heard a loud shout from behind him. Turning around, Karkat only had time to register a shadow falling over his form; then suddenly he was being hit by what must have been the biggest water balloon of all time.

At the point of impact Karkat’s shock and rage caused his soul to leave his body momentarily and transcend into another plane of existence. In it, he woke up from a nightmare, ready to face a new day, the smell of pancakes slowly filtering through to his old room. Birds were singing, the sun was shining and Karkat’s shoes were heavy with water.

Wait what?

He came back to his senses with a jolt, realising that he had been standing paralyzed and dripping long enough for a small crowd to have gathered. Movement to his right revealed that one of the guy’s from earlier had approached him looking apologetic, but not managing to completely wipe the shit eating grin off his face. 

“Hey dude, dude are you okay? My bro back there was tryin’ to prank me real good and I totally dodged that balloon but I didn’t realise it was making a bee-line for your uh, entire being.” The boy turned and called over his shoulder , “Dude, John how much water did you put in that damn thing it’s like a veritable tsunami up in this bi-“

“Stop. Talking” Karkat managed to grit out from between clenched teeth. A bead of water slowly ran from his hairline and into his twitching eye.

The guy turned round in shock. “Oh hey dude welcome back to Earth,” He leaned down slightly and Karkat could see his own anger reflected back at him through the lanky fuck’s aviators. “Oh boy you should have seen your face when you got hit; it was like them videos of cats taking baths? The moment of innocence morphing into complete and utter betra-“

“rrrrRRRRROH MY GOD WILL. YOU. SHUT UP YOU PIECE OF SHIT!? First you accost me with your mind- numbingly dumb antics and now you try and act like were all buddy-buddy? Like AH YES of course I want to befriend you after you FUCKING SOAK THE SHIT OUT OF ME AND ALL I HOLD DEAR... And here I thought that I could wander round a UNIVERSITY CAMPUS WITHOUT being the victim of a fucking. Water .BALLOON! What are you, five? Jesus MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST!”

Karkat Began brandishing his now soggy map at the asshole in front of him, flecks of water flying everywhere.

“Oh GREAT, ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. You’ve RUINED the only thing vaguely resembling helping directions THANK YOU VERY FUCKING MUCH you know I’ve had a shit enough day as it is without dealing with thirteen year olds and their SHENANIGANS!-“

At this point a bespectacled boy ran out of the crowd and next to the glasses wearing douche,

“Hi! Hi there, sorry about that but it really wasn’t Dave’s fault per se, I was the one who flung the balloon, just trying to get one last prank in before my best bro leaves for further educ-GLARK!”

Karkat shuts idiot number two off by flinging his squishy map directly into his face. It makes a satisfying squelching sound. As the crowd around them disperses, he flips the dumbstruck teens the bird and marches towards what he hopes is the right building.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour and a half later, Karkat sadly trundled his case back towards the scene of his watery attack, after having realised that the shabby building was in fact the one he’d spent the past three hours looking for. After popping a blood vessel or ten he managed to claw his suitcase up the five flights of stairs to his new room. He fumbled with the door for what seemed like ages before barging into his  
room and collapsing onto the floor.

“I am never moving, ever again,” He croaked out to the empty dorm. The dorm said nothing back. Karkat lay there until something rustled and moved towards him. Squealing, he scrambled to turn on the light switch, practically slamming into the wall in his haste to find out what the fuck just tried to eat his foot. Light flooded the room, searing Karkat’s eyes, and showed that his roommate had in fact arrived; but he’d only stuck around long enough to dump a load of bin bags and boxes onto the nearest bed. Karkat glared at the bin bag that had tried to crush his foot; and gave it a sharp kick, sending the contents spilling out onto the floor. He then pretended as if nothing had happened and began investigating the dorm.

It consisted of a large room with two beds, each with their own storage space and desks. A mini fridge which looked like it belonged to the mystery roommate stood in a corner, next to an alcove that was probably for storing packets of instant noodles and other student essentials. A short hallway led to a small bathroom; equipped with a toilet, sink and shower. A grimy looking mirror doubled as a cabinet to store toiletries. Wandering back into the main room Karkat took a moment to look out the large bay window that separated the two beds. It was probably the nicest part of the entire dorm, and, aside from cost, was the main reason Karkat applied for this building. He could picture it now, finding an old beanbag and sitting by the window. Cup of tea in hand, rain gently falling down the window panes and exams a distant memory. The bare light bulb dangling from the ceiling ruined the moment by deciding to flicker violently. Sighing, Karkat Unzipped his case, and began pulling out the things he’d need to make this dump more livable. 

Luckily for Karkat, none of his belongings inside his case were water damaged, the thing that took the brunt of the incident being his ego. Once everything was inspected and laid out, he took the opportunity to finally eat the lunch his mother had forced upon him before punting him out the door. With everything that had happened so far that day he was eternally grateful for the hot thermos of soup and the slightly squashed sandwiches. Karkat might have gotten a little misty eyed in the middle of eating, but there was no one around to prove it.

Once refueled, Karkat made quick work of settling into the dorm. His books were overflowing out the bookshelves and onto the floor, but that was to be expected. At least this way he could use a stack as a makeshift bedside table, the perfect place to stick a cup of tea he thought to himself.

He had heard horror stories from Kanaya about how cold and draughty dorms could be, and so had brought with him lengths of material to drape over the cinderblock walls. Add in a few strings of light, and about a dozen or so pillows and Karkat had a rather comfy set up going on. Rooting out the oversized dressing gown his mum had bought him as a joke present, and a set of pajamas's, Karkat set off to the shower to wash away the grime and chill of the day’s events.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He had just finished towelling off his hair when he heard a shout from the other room. The mysterious roommate had returned. As much as Karkat wanted to make a good first impression, he was far too comfy and uncaring to take off the fluffy bathrobe. Turning off the music from his phone, he padded along the corridor to greet the newcomer.

In the dim light it took him a moment to make out the other person in the room, but as soon as he did all pleasant greetings died off karkat’s tongue. The glasses asshole from earlier turned round and attempted to make a suave greeting before falling back onto his bed in surprise. 

Karkat took a moment to properly take in the situation. His eyes travelled down from those stupid aviators, to the bags and bags of crap this idiot had just dumped on the floor around his badly made bed; and back up to watch the blonde asshat stammer out weak apologies.

Running his hand through his hair and suppressing the urge to scream or whack his head repeatedly off the wall, Karkat gritted out, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

The glasses asshole- no, The Glasshole simply shrugged and looked around awkwardly.

Stomping over to his bed, Karkat shrugged out of his robe and dove under the covers. He took one moment to glare at his roommate before turning off his light and plunging the room into total darkness. 

He heard the other boy squeak at the sudden loss of light, and muttered a soft, “Night, fuckass,” before rolling over and promptly passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a tumblr btw, feel free to come message me we can talk headcannons n shit :P
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/casper-the-friendly-hobbit


	3. oh no I'm late for anime school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to be posted, it was actually sitting in my drafts for ages but I just couldn't get it /right/   
> But I have ideas for the next chapter so yay?
> 
> Thank you again for reading! AT xx

The first day of classes found one dishevelled Karkat Vantas pacing wildly around the campus green, the mid-morning sun glancing off his mobile as he desperately scrolled through his contacts.

“Kanaya I swear to god I can’t deal with this,” Karkat spat out, not even pausing to greet his sister as she picked up the phone, “I- I don’t know what to do this is a complete and utter disaster, I swear I must be cursed or something I am fu-”

“It’s nice to speak to you to Karkat dear, though I didn’t suspect you to be having a nervous breakdown merely 48 hours into further education.” 

Karkat paused in his pacing and moved to sit down at the nearest picnic table, “I’m being totally serious here Kan! It’s been so bad since I left home! The dude I’m sharing with is a proper psychopath; probably. He keeps dead things in jars! Five bucks says I’m gonna be the next specimen.” He absent-mindedly carved some grooves into the table top with his nail, 

“Karkat Sweetie, I seriously doubt your roommate is a serial killer.”

“You don’t know the guy! He could totally be a psychopath waiting for the right moment to snap!”

Kanaya sighed softly, “Well I guess I’ll have to come meet him for myself, I was planning to come visit you before the end of the month and It was supposed to be a surprise, but maybe the knowledge that I’ll be making the journey down to see you will help you cope during this trying time.”

He could hear a sewing machine whirring down the line, and for a moment felt guilty for interrupting his sister during her work.

That didn’t however, stop him from continuing his rant, “Wow, thanks for the support, sis.” Karkat deadpanned, “I’d be over the moon to meet you in a few weeks but I’m afraid that by then I’ll either be fucking dead or crazy!”

The sewing machine stopped, “Kar, have you possibly considered that you might be blowing this entire thing out of proportion? We all know you have a tendency to be overdramatic…”

“Okay, first of all, Rude.” The machine noises start up again “And I’m not being dramatic. There’s something seriously strange about Dave; that’s his name by the way. Like, I swear he hasn’t slept since we moved here. I woke up this morning and he acted like he’d just woken up too but I know, I KNOW, he was lying. He also never took his sunglasses off inside, either he’s pretentious as fuck or has something to hide. AND ANOTHER THING. He moves so quietly, I have a heart attack every time I turn round and he’s just fucking standing there! Trying to look casual -its driving me insane!” 

Karkat put his head on the table, “I also may have overreacted in front of him and I’m too embarrassed to apologise….” He quietly muttered.

“Sorry Karkat, what was that? I can’t hear you over the sewing machine. Look, I have to go, this order needs to be finished before 3 pm; but if this is really bothering you I’m sure mum could sort somet-” 

“NO!” Karkat quickly cut her off, “I don’t want to involve mum, she has enough on her plate at the moment without me pestering her. I’m, I’m just gonna have to deal with it… I’m gonna go now, let you get this order finished up, but I’ll speak to you soon Kan, Love you!”

“Take care Kar! I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Karkat let his phone drop to the table with a dull thunk. That went well. He sighed and started root around in his shoulder bag for his lunch. Cheese sandwich clamped between his teeth, Karkat was in the middle of trying to fish out a banana from underneath all his notepads when someone decided to join him at the table. He looked up to see a short, blonde girl smiling primly at him from across the table. The smile faltered when Karkat completely disregarded her and went back to his search. Growing frustrated, Karkat opted to dump the entire contents out onto the bench- there’s the slippery yellow bastard! Spitting out his still wrapped sandwich, he grabbed the banana and quickly shoved all the crap back in the bag. He turned, fully intent on enjoying his now rescued lunch only to find the blonde girl still sitting there, watching him. 

Sighing and brandishing his partially-bitten fruit, Karkat let out a garbled, “Why do I seem to be attracting hordes of creepy-ass blondes at the moment?”

The girl arched a delicate eyebrow, “I wouldn’t exactly call my cousin and I a horde, however I am glad to find the right short, angry roommate this time; the last boy thought I was trying to convert him.” She pulled out water bottle and took a quick swig.

“Can I ask why exactly you were looking for me?” Karkat asked, glancing round for any sign of aviators shades, “Or are you just trying to figure out which of my body parts you want pickled for yourself?”  
She chose to ignore Karkat’s comment in favour of pulling out a scrap of paper from her jacket pocket. The girl gestured for Karkat to take it, which he did, hesitantly. It was a phone number.

“My name is Rose Lalonde. I came looking for you because you share a room with my cousin, Dave. I was hoping that you would keep an eye on him for me, and let me know how he’s doing from time to time.” Rose smiled at him again, “Contrary to popular belief, I actually care dearly for him, howe-”

“However you don’t want him to know that.” Karkat guessed, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite. Rose nodded. “Why should I? I don’t want anything to do with Strider, no fucking offense or anything.”

Pulling out a phone, Rose made to freshen-up her black lipstick, “Well, aside from the obvious “you’re-stuck-with-him-for-the-rest-of-the-year-so-might-as-well-become-chums” argument, I’d also say that the two of you have quite a lot in common.”

Karkat spluttered violently; rose was unfazed as she touched up her makeup. 

“Now before you go on another rage-induced rant like the one two days ago,” Karkat blushed and looked down at his hands, “Let me finish.” Rose pocketed her mobile. “Both of you are from far away; neither of you have friends here, as far as I know, and you share a certain amount of classes with each other.”

“H-How the fuck do you know all this shit!?” Karkat gasped. 

Rose stood up to leave, “Us Lalonde’s are very skilled at a large range of things. It just so happens that a member of my family is very, very good at hacking into school databases.” Rose grinned “Know if you excuse me, I have a theology lecture to attend; and you should have left for your biology intro five minutes ago.”

Karkat swore and check the time on his phone, dammit she was right. He looked up to see that Rose had vanished. “Damn this family,” Karkat thought to himself as he ran across the green towards the science department, hastily stuffing the remains of his lunch back in his bag.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily for Karkat he hadn’t missed anything important, his biology teacher opting to allow the class play ice breakers for the duration of the first lesson instead of actually teach; unluckily for him, sitting in the front row was Dave. 

Making a bee-line towards the back of the class, he noticed a free seat next to a small girl absently playing with the tassel of her hat. 

“Hey, is this seat free?” Karkat asked, tapping nervously on the desk to get her attention.

The girl turned and sized him up with large green eyes, she cocked her head to one side, 

“That depends… You got any food on ya? 

Sifting through his bag, Karkat pulled out his half eaten sandwich from earlier, and would have held it out to the girl had she not immediately snatched it out of his hands.

“Mm keese…” She grinned through a mouthful of bread as Karkat cautiously took a seat, “Oough ah hav t’admit I prefur hicken mayo.”

Karkat recoiled away from the food and spittle splash zone, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Mmnf, ‘ere, we’re suppos’ t’ask ‘ese ooh each oher.” She garbled as she slid a bit of paper across the desk towards the shorter boy. 

Karkat examined the sheet, trying desperately to tune out the noises of his desk buddy trying to inhale some wholegrain. He didn’t do a very good job.

“Whew! Wow, thanks for that!” the girl exhaled, turning to face Karkat directly as she licked any stray crumbs off her fingers. “I forgot to pack food today and I thought I was gonna pass out! Being responsible for that stuff is harder than you’d think, y’know? I have no idea where anything is yet, and I really need to find the laundry rooms soon cause I only brought three pairs of socks with me cause my cat stole the rest!” Karkat’s neighbour gibbered as she stuck out a hand, “I’m Nepeta by the way.”

Hesitantly, he shook it,“Karkat”

Nepeta’s eyes lit up as she bounced in her seat, “OHH that is the best name ever!”

Karkat forced a grin, “You must really like cats, eh?”

“They’re alright I guess,” Nepeta deadpanned.

Grinning for real this time, Karkat turned and picked up the paper on the desk.

“So we’re gonna be lab partners for the year?”

“Yup.”

“...Nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> n'yaaa


	4. justice for nepeta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates? In the same week?? WHAAAAAT???
> 
> Its almost as if I have my life together lmao
> 
> enjoy I'm posting this at like 4am so apologies for any spelling mistakes ATxxx

Nepeta turned out to be a very interesting lab partner. The girl was like a living cartoon, overly-animated in everything from walking to class, sending texts, eating lunch, and subsequently falling asleep on their shared desk. It irritated Karkat to no end that she could effortlessly list off facts while he struggled to remember what the leg bone was connected to. Nepeta, on the other hand, was amazed at Karkat’s ability to waffle on for paragraphs in essays, yet still achieve top marks; while she struggled daily with her extreme dyslexia. They realised after two days together that they could use each other’s skill and so struck a deal to help each other study. When Nepeta made that deal she wasn’t really expecting Karkat to pull out his books and notes immediately. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

She was in the middle of glaring at her laptop, precariously perched on top of her knees from within the fort of pillows she’d created around her, when Karkat’s door slowly opened and she saw his roommate for the first time. She recognised the shock of white-blonde hair immediately, and after a startled moment shot Dave a cheerful grin, regardless of whether or not he could actually see her from within her fortress. She’d seen him hanging around with Terezi frequently but she had no idea he was her study buddy’s roommate. Next to her, Karkat sleepily looked up from his biology textbook, pencil dropping from where he had casually been balancing it on his upper lip. Nepeta watched curiously as the two boys shared terse greeting with each other. Karkat sat rigidly on his bed, staring holes into his book as Dave quickly searched through his wardrobe for a tattered red hoodie; shrugging it on as he turned without a word and quietly made his way back outside.

At the sound of the door gently closing shut Karkat let out a deep breath and his whole body sagged. He had all but forgotten Nepeta was in the room until she emerged from her den shivering violently and rubbing her arms. 

“Brr! Oh my gosh it’s so cold in here! Must have dropped about twenty degrees just then!” 

She winked cheekily as she strode over to Karkat’s dinky and one hundred per cent RA disapproved kettle to make the two of them tea. Karkat huffed and moved to reclaim some of his cushions, the essays abandoned for the night. Hell, it wasn’t even like they mattered that much, it was only the end of the first week.

“My god, I feel like I’ve been here for ages and its only been a handful of days,” Karkat mused aloud as he wearily rubbed his eyes.

Nepeta walked over to him with two very full cups, pouting when she noticed Karkat had destroyed the integrity of her fortress but sat beside him nonetheless.

“Well, you have been working really hard this week. Too hard I’d say,” Nepeta mused as she carefully sipped at her drink, “Like, you’ve either been at the library or at the canteen or mine studying, it’s not like we actually have anything worth studying for, a few six hundred words essays at most; and their not due until next week! It’s almost like you’re avoiding something…or someone.”

Karkat tightened his grip on his tea and looked over at his friend. She looked genuinely concerned, though there was a faint glimmer of unbridled curiously in her eye.

Raising the cup to his lips, Karkat muttered, “Everything’s just one big mess. I messed up and I don’t know what to do. I’m… I just wanna go home or rewind time or something…”

“Oh Kitkat…” Nepeta scooched over and tentatively gave him a one-armed hug, tea sloshing precariously as she settled down.

“Y’know it’s okay to miss home? I know I do…they don’t let pets in the dorms.”

“Ha, like that’d stop you,” Karkat gibed, Nepeta elbowed him gently in retaliation.

He sipped at his tea, soberly, “It’s not just that though, it’s my roommate- Dave, we just got off to a bad start and it’s all my fault. I don’t know how to fix it; I don’t know if I want to fix it.” 

“Shh, don’t talk like that,” Nepeta slurped loudly at her tea. “Tell me everything, from the beginning.”

And so he did

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Earlier that day, Karkat had been tasked with his first ever dissection. The Brief was simple enough, open and gut the frog with your lab partner, taking care not to damage any of the internal organs and laying them on a tray, neatly labelled. He’d played many games of operation at Christmas he felt like he was prepared for what was to come, or so he’d thought. As Karkat stood with the scalpel poised over his dead froggy specimen he’d seen something in its eye and couldn’t bring himself to butcher the poor thing. 

That “thing” turned out to be life, and the frog took Karkat’s hesitation as an opportunity to try and escape. Bounding upright, it made to jump its way to freedom via Karkat’s face if a hand hadn’t shot out and grabbed the frog, catching it and crushing its neck in one singular moment. Karkat had stood there, stunned for what felt like hours as his friend dropped the now definitely dead frog onto the tray. At the time he wondered what it must have felt like for the frog. Did it have a soul-frog-mate who felt its death? Do animals have soul bonds?

Well know he could say for certain he knew what it felt like to be under the murderous glare of Nepeta Leijon, and without a doubt death was certainly the preferable option.

\----------------------------------------------------

“You Fucking what!?” Nepeta yelled as she discarded her empty mug and picked up a pillow, moving towards Karkat with unbridled rage.

“I just… it was late and then the next day we never saw each other,” Karkat shuffled away desperately, “and I just never got the opportunity to say sorry- please Nepeta ple- OOf!” 

Nepeta nailed him directly in the gut and he went down like a sack of bricks. 

“Karkat Vantas. You. Go. Apologise. To. That. Poor. Boy. Now. You. Cowardly. Piece. Of. Shit!” she enunciated between solid pillow whacks.

“Nepeta stop!” Karkat huffed out, his head was spinning, all he could make out was floor and ceiling and small angry girl all around him, “Please! I’m sorry!”

Nepeta paused mid swing, “See! That wasn’t hard was it?” 

“No, but it was really painful…” He grumbled under his breath as she held out her hand to help him up out of his foetal position.

“But you will talk to him? You can’t let this stupid thing fester away at the two of you.” Nepeta asked as she turned to pick up the used mugs and took them to be washed.

Karkat paused to fix his jumper before moving to replace all the blankets and pillows that had fallen off his bed during their tussle. 

“I..I will.” He sighed, “I’ll do it tonight, when he gets back.”

“As much as I’m for action, isn’t it a bit late to be having late night apology-fests?” Nepeta called from the bathroom, the sound of running water almost drowning her out.

Karkat had just registered from the time on his phone that it was almost 2am, and had just enough time to feel guilty for all the noise they’d caused so late at night when someone sloppily banged on the door.

Gulping, Karkat turned to look at Nepeta, who had poked her head round the corner, soapy cups clutched in her hands. She nodded towards him as if to say, “Well go on then,” and preparing apologies on the tip of his tongue, karkat strode over and shyly opened the door.

He wasn’t expecting a scrawny drunk girl to barge her way into the room.

“Is Dave here? I los ‘im awhile back, this ‘is room right?” She sniffed, “Neepta?”

Nepeta rushed towards the girl as she staggered and sat her down on Dave’s badly made bed.

“Rezi! Are you okay? What happened?” 

“What’s happened to Dave?” Karkat asked, speaking for the first time.

Terezi’s head snapped up from where she’d been resting it on her knees, “Y’re Dave’s roommate?”

Karkat realised with a start that the girl in front of him was blind, as Nepeta rushed to get her a glass of water.

“I..yes, but I don’t know him very well, w-“

She lolled her head to the slide, “Yeah well e’s neverreally mentioned you before so I figured asmuch.” The bitterness was evident in her voice despite the slight slurring.

Nepeta returned to a furiously blushing Karkat and a near unconscious Terezi.

“I knew she was going out to a party tonight, but I had no idea she was gonna get this shitfaced,” Nepeta murmered as she cajoled the girl into taking small sips of water.

“How do you know her?” Karkat asked nervously, glancing through the open door down the hallway, looking for either the missing Dave or a very angry RA.

Nepeta was smoothing the hair out of the girls face when she spoke, “This is my roommate, Terezi! It’s a surprise you two haven’t bumped into each other before, Her and Dave are like peas in a pod.”

At the mentioning of Dave’s name Terezi shot to her feet shakily, “Dave! I need t’find ‘im! Someone spiked his drink!” She stumbled and leant heavily on nepeta, who had rushed to her side. 

Karkat rushed forward to help sit her back down again, “Terezi, what did you just say?” 

“Some prick, heput a whole load ‘f alcohol inthe punch, Dave dranka fuck tonne of it thinkin’ it was nonalcohol and then wenta pee and I losed him,” She sounded choked up, and Karkat watched as fat tears rolled down her face, “I just wanteto show ‘im a good time, e’s beenso miserable…” Terezi’s speech slurred off into choked sobs and wet sniffs.

Panic coursed through Karkat’s body. This was his fault, if he’d only apologise earlier….

He rushed over to his wardrobe and pulled out his jacket. Quickly checking his phone battery, he moved back and knelt down in front of terezi and nepeta, who was slowly rubbing her roommates back as her tears subsided.

“Terezi? Did you have any of the punch?” He asked as gently as possible. The girl nodded slightly, “Only a little bit, it was too sweet, but everything’s wobbly and I don’t like it and I need to find Da-“

Karkat shushed the girl as she threatened to start crying again. Trying not to let his panic show when he turned to face Nepeta he inhaled sharply, “Are you okay taking her home? She needs rest, and someone to watch out for her in case she gets worse.”

Nepeta nodded and quickly gathered up her things. Picking up a protesting Terezi bridal style, she turned to an awed Karkat, “You’re gonna go look for him aren’t you?”

“Of course I am, I can’t just leave him out there, what if he’s hurt?” Karkat called as he locked the door behind the group. 

Nepeta was already holding the building door open as Karkat made it to the bottom floor, panting slightly.

Grinning despite everything, she made to say something before I sleepy voice spoke up from her arms,

“Ha! I knew you weren’t really mad at ‘im…”

Once outside the trio nodded farewell and split off into the night.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Karkat retraced Terezi’s steps as best as her drunken directions would allow. The party had been at a house just off campus, down one of the streets that seemed to have the least amount of functioning streetlamps. Using his phone’s torch to navigate his way through squelching piles of fallen leaves, Karkat followed the sounds of winding down music to the house in question. Cautiously making his way through the door he was hit by the smell of spilled drinks and something suspiciously like vomit. Just like your average house party, He mused to himself, though he’d never actually been to a real house party. He searched the house thoroughly, and asked any of the people still there if they had seen Dave. Unfortunately, they were all incredibly smashed and could barely focus on anything Karkat said. He quickly gave up and went back to patrolling the area. 

Karkat was on his second loop of the area surrounding his dorm when he spotted a pale shape sitting propped up against a fountain. Rushing over with his heart in his mouth he almost cried when he recognised the shades resting upon his comatose roommate. His joy was short lived however, as Karkat realised he had no way of getting his unconscious roommate back to their room. Sure, the dorm was only about ten minutes away, but Dave had a good foot extra in height than Karkat. Sighing heavily, Karkat rolled up his sleeves before hoisting the other boy up by his armpits and slowly dragging him back home.

God he hoped he didn’t bump into any campus police.

\------------------------------------

He was two floors away from his prize when the boy in his arms began to stir. Twitching his finger erratically, Dave Mumbled out, “No…I…I don’t wannago to The Ruth…don makeme go..” 

Panting heavily, karkat tried to tell him that he was okay, but all that would come out was a gentle wheeze. Dave seemed to have gone silent again anyway. Turning back to the task at hand, Karkat, through some force of will managed to heave his way to their dorm and get the door open before crumpling to the floor; Dave a dead weight on top of him.

Pausing to catch his breath, Karkat turned to look at the sleeping face of his flatmate. Dave’s shades had slid down his nose enough that Karkat could make out his long, pale eyelashes. He took in the worried lines and dark circles around Dave’s eyes, feeling a stab of guilt for what he surely must have caused. At first he didn’t register that the other boy was coming to. Dave opened his eyes with a jolt, and took several moments to focus their gaze on the boy trapped beneath his dead weight. Karkat was blown away for a moment at the sight of deep crimson pupils staring directly into his own brown ones. The moment was ruined when Dave opened his mouth. Karkat didn’t know what hit him first, the smell of Dave’s sour breath, or the incredibly childlike voice that whispered, 

“I think m’gonna be sick.”

Karkat swore that he had never moved so fast in his life as he pushed both himself and Dave to their feet and rushed into the bathroom. He had just enough sense to snatch the shades of Dave’s face before he practically bowled himself into the toilet, heaving violently. Easing Dave out of his hoodie and shoes, while he ralfed spectacularly was no small feat, but it was done. Karkat quickly changed into comfier clothes, grabbed a damp cloth and hunkered down next to Dave and the toilet for a long night.


End file.
